Don't you forget about me
by MNLMFangirl
Summary: Spoilers for names. Warnings: Character death, Yaoi, violence and things that may be triggering for some. Remembrance day special! No Death note. Many went to war with Matt, Mello and Near among them but as expected from a war not all made it home. Now some of the ones that survived are now helping a remembrance day ceremony but will the memories be too much? Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

The sounds of explosions and gun fires ring through the air loudly mixing with the cries of pain.

Bodies everywhere littering the ground…. Dead…. Or…. Wounded.

Shouts of orders begin joining the mix of sounds ringing in the air.

I am breathing heavily as I take cover behind a mostly destroyed wall. I glance to each side of me trying to decide what to do. I know I can't just stay here and I must fight! I just need a moment to think what I need to do to help. I notice someone, I know is on our side but I wish was on our enemies side, hide behind a pretty much dead bush. I look away and decide to move and so I begin moving in the opposite direction of the other.

Besides I'm sure that he's got it covered.

I peer around the edge of the wall getting ready to go when I have to hide again as machine gun shots sound. I close my eyes as my heart pounds in fear, hope and adrenaline from being here. I begin moving towards the edge again this time hoping to strike down an enemy.

"Retreat!" The commanding officer shouts.

I clench my teeth and turn to go but I can't help to glance to my other side.

The person on our side is trying to move back but is badly hurt.

I may not like him, as he is one of the ones I don't really like, but he's on our side and I'd get nightmares of guilt if I ignored it. I head over to him and help him up by getting one arm around my shoulders as well as my own arm around his waist. "Come on." I say as we begin hurrying away as fast as we can heading for the ships, the ones left, that we came in.

There is still sounds of gun shots and explosions but they become distant sounds that are no longer ringing loudly in my ears as I focus on getting us out of here.

I spare a glance to him as he does his best to be brave and strong as we try to hurry to safety with things that could kill us going all around us. I look back to our destination with a determined look. "I will get you out of here!" I say mostly to myself.

Then suddenly there is beeping sounds and I clench my teeth as my eyes slightly widen.

Crap! Is that a mine!?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter one:

Mello groans and rolls over silencing his beeping alarm clock. He sighs in relief then opens his eyes half way.

Another day….. Just another day…. Until he lifts his head to look to the calendar then he quickly sits up.

It's remembrance day!

He gets up and goes to change. He makes sure to grab stuff that at least looks decent then his hand brushes against something. He pauses and moves his clothes to look at it. "On second thought I'll wear this." He switches what he grabbed for what he found. He changes, adds a poppy and he's all set. He then leaves his apartment going out to Matt's car as the red head is waiting for him since they share the apartment and they are going to the same place. He hops in and Matt smiles.

"Nice outfit." Matt says.

"You too." Mello says back.

Matt begins driving once it is all good to do so.

They are heading to an orphanage to help with their remembrance day ceremony.

Mello glances to Matt then he turns to his own lap in thought.

"Everything will be fine." Matt says.

Mello sighs softly. "I know." He looks up to Matt then blinks peering out the window beside Matt. His eyes widen slightly. "Pull over!"

"What!?" Matt says confused.

"Do it!" Mello orders and Matt pulls over. He rushes out then carefully moves down the rocky slope.

Matt rushes out and peers over the siding. "Mello!"

Mello ignores him as he makes it to the bottom only to dash into the forest.

"Aw man. You've got to be kidding! What's gotten into him all of a sudden!?" Matt says as he glances hesitantly to the slope.

Mello's P.O.V.

I rush through the trees until I come to a stop when I find a house just outside of a small town.

Both the house and the town are abandoned as there seems to have been a fire….. The fire…. The fire that destroyed this place before the war even started… When I was young… I can't help but stare at the lone home that what's left of it that is still standing. I feel a small pain in my head strong enough to make my eyes close tightly and for me to bring a hand to my head. I then open my eyes as it subsides and my eyes widen as a memory comes back to me as I swear I can see it playing out in front of me.

Flash back before the fire. No one's P.O.V. only for the flash back.

A young Mello runs towards the home just as a young Near is leaving said home. "Hey." Young Mello greets the other.

"Hey." Young Near greets back.

"What's up?" Young Mello asks.

Young Near looks away sadly. "My mom's sick. She says she can't get up. My siblings are getting hungry. I need to go to town to ask for some food." He pauses and looks back to young Mello. "Will you help me?" He asks.

Young Mello smiles. "Sure Nate. I'll help you." He agrees.

Young Near smiles. "I always feel good when you're with me." He says.

"You're my friend Nate," Young Mello moves a step closer.

Young Near tilts his head slightly. "Are you always going to be there when I grow up?"

Young Mello blinks a little surprised at the question then smiles again. "Aw yeah." He raises his hand sticking out his pinky. "Cross my heart." He says as Near links pinkies with the young blonde.

Then the two let go only to begin walking and young Mello puts an arm around young Near as they walk to go into town.

End of flashback.

I fall to my knees and I feel like crying.

It was so long ago but still….. How could I have forgotten!?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter two:

"Mello!" Matt makes it to me as I get up and brush some dirt off of my war uniform. "What the hell!" He pants at me as his own war uniform is also a little dusty.

I look over my shoulder at him. "Just some old memories." I say and I turn back to the home then I glance to what's left of the town.

Matt is silent for a few moments then he comes over and puts an arm around my shoulders in a small hug. "Ok." He says. "I may not know anything about your past besides what you told me but what I do know is you should be glad for it made you who you are today. Like the war."

I stay silent as I let my memories finish through my mind like a few moments before opening them after taking a deep breath. "Yeah I know." I say.

"Come on. Let's go or we'll be late." Matt leads me back to the car.

We continue on our way and I mostly stare out the window beside me remembering the memories I had pushed away for so long after the fire when I lost track of Near that dreadful day….. Later finding the city where Matt's family took me in….. And also memories of the war…..

All of it and during this time Matt lets me be.

I close my eyes taking a slightly deep breath as my mind leads me to many places.

After a little driving we arrive at the city where the orphanage is.

We park in the parking lot just outside of the orphanage.

I get out then as I close the door I blink as I see Matt grab something before following me as we head inside.

"Ah hello there." An older man comes to greet us. "My name is Rodger."

"Names Mihael." I greet and shake hands with him then he moves to Matt.

"Mail." Matt does the same.

Rodger does his best to look at both of us. "It is an honor to have you here." He says. "Please follow me." He leads us through the orphanage and into a common room. "We will gather the kids when you're ready." He says. "Just let one of the adults here know when you're ready." He then leaves.

There is about two teachers making sure things are ready for the assembly for today.

A hand rests on my shoulder and I turn to Matt.

"you feeling ok?" He asks.

I nod. "It's just a lot to take in the memories all at once." I look to the small stage set up.

"Yeah. I know." Matt also turns to the stage then pulls out what he grabbed before he left the car.

I glance to it and I see it is a picture of our group from the war, the group we were a part of when the army made groups so they can assign missions or something to certain groups as needed.

All including our main nurse Linda, commanding officer L, deputy Light, me, Matt and even Near… All dressed in our war uniforms.

We took that picture at the start of the war to have for all of us to have so if we did survive then we could have it to remember.

I let myself remember a time from the war that stands out for me from all of my memories.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter three: Flash back.

It was a cold dark night our enemies seem quiet as we walk through the darkness hoping we will not be ambushed.

I keep my gun ready to raise to strike if an enemy happens to pop up.

On either side of me is my group as we are a little spread out following our commanding officer L and deputy Light along through the darkness of the woods.

I think I see a moonlit clearing up ahead!

We get closer and closer to it, our hearts beating in anticipation as we don't know if the enemy is waiting to strike us down or not.

The world seems to hold its breath along with us as the suspense thickly fills the air with the only sounds being crickets and the soft sounds of our footsteps.

I raise my gun a little more to being ready fire as I get a bad feeling.

We get into the clearing and we all individually look around depending on which side we are on.

No sign of the enemy so far then a twig snaps making us tense as we start to back up towards each other moving almost back to back.

Everyone stills with the guns raised ready to strike anything that happens to pop out at us.

I have a feeling that our enemies are somewhere here just waiting to ambush us. I swallow the extra spit that has gathered in my mouth as I watch the darkness just waiting for something to pop out of the dark depths of the woods around us.

No one says a word and we start to relax a little thinking it was only our imagination….. until our enemies pop out from the darkness and begin shooting.

We hurry and shoot back while trying to dodge bullets with our enemies doing the same.

I fire and just barely miss my target when he fires at me not giving me time to dodge.

It's all over!

I close my eyes tightly waiting for the pain… only it doesn't come. I open one eye half way then I open both eyes wide as I see that Near had jumped out in front of me taking the bullet for me.

He starts to collapse and I drop my gun hurriedly catching him as Matt covers us.

I hold him in my arms as I sit on my knees and I look down at him with a quick glance to his wound.

The wound….. it's going to kill him pretty fast if he's not already dead.

I look back to his face. "Near?"

He opens his eyes to half way then weakly looks to me. "Mello…" He croaks out as it's obviously painful to speak.

"Why? Why did you do that?" I demand.

He gives me a smile. "I was…. Repaying you…" He coughs a little as some blood drips from his mouth. "For saving….. Me when I….. Was hurt and….. we were….. retreating…. You… saved me and… now I'm….. returning it by….. saving you….." He tells me.

I can see his eyes start to close indicating his life is slipping away. "Thank you." I say softly then his eyes close as his body goes limp…. As his spirit leaves his body. I hang my head over his body sadly as I feel the warmth of his body leave with his spirit. I then open my eyes feeling a rage engulf me. I raise my head with a death glare at the enemy who killed Near. I gently lower Near's body carefully to the ground then I pick up my gun standing up. I raise it right at the enemy who is being distracted by Matt. "This is for Near." I say then I fire right at him hitting his chest killing him. I continue shooting at his body not caring if he's dead or not at the time I started firing more shots into the enemy's body.

He took Near's life even if it was to save mine and I keep going until I start to feel my rage slide away as I stare at the bloody body that has holes from my gun shots.

I spit on his body then I turn away looking back to Near's own dead body.

He sacrificed himself to save my life and I killed the bastard that killed him.

End of flashback.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter four:

We are soon ready and we stand on the stage as the orphans and the adults gather in the room for the assembly.

Once everyone is in the room Rodger goes over to one of the two microphones on the stage.

He looks around at the people in the room. "Welcome." He says. "We are here today because of the brave souls that gave their lives to help us bring the life we know, those that fought for us and lived along with those that continue to fight for us." He says. "We are here to remember them all and thank them for their brave efforts." He glances to me and Matt. "Today we have special guests from the war who survived. Please do share what you would like to say." He says then hands me the microphone. He backs off as I step forward.

The orphans and adults are listening to us respectfully.

"My name is Mihael and this is Mail. We both fought in the war as you heard." I begin. "Our war names we were given were Mello for myself and Matt for Mail." I glance to Matt who nods for me to continue as he doesn't want to add anything so I turn back to the others in the room. "It is nice honor to stand up here and talk to you guys on this day. I say be happy for the lives you have because you don't have to worry about being drafted or have to go out to help fight with death a daily possibility like we did. I have seen many deaths of both allies and of enemies." I continue. "The war continue to haunts my mind and it will until the day I die. But that's not all." I take a moment's pause. "I lost someone very precious to me in the war. He returned in a coffin." I say and I close my eyes for a second to keep back my tears before opening them again.

Matt pulls up the picture that he put on the drive of the slide show he helped make for our presentation.

I turn and point to Near. "His name was Nate River with his war name being Near. He was only two years younger than me and was only sixteen with me being eighteen and Matt only seventeen when we had to join the army for the war. Me and Nate are orphans just like you and Mail's family took me in but they were killed when the war began." I say lowering my hand turning back to the orphans. "We were childhood friends separated when our home town was burned to the ground. The memories were painful so I pushed them away and I didn't realize it when I saw him again this time in the army." I pause for another second. "When the army divided us up into groups we were on the same group as you see in the picture." I gesture back to the screen the projector is projecting the image onto. "I saved his life once during the war and he repaid the favor as he sacrificed his life to save mine. He was so young….. he would never be able to find love and ever truly have a life because of the war… He could have been anything….. a doctor or maybe even the president… but he can't now because he gave his life to protect not only me but to protect the life that you all live today. Free and able to become what you want." I explain. "I wear this poppy and this uniform today to not just remember all of the people we lost in the war but I mainly wear them for my childhood friend Nate who saved me and returned in a coffin. He is a hero and always will be." I end my little speech and I hand the microphone to Matt as he gives me an assuring smile before he begins talking about some times from the war making sure to not take it too far since these orphans are still young.

After our presentation they have their own including the anthem, a moment of silence and a video that shows parts of wars that they could find probably from the internet or video that someone collected.

After the assembly is done we get a special gift of thanks then we leave and along the way we get thanks, cheers and such from the orphans.

Once all that is done we head get back into Matt's car and head on our way.

"Matt." I say after a few minutes.

"Just be patient Mello." Matt responds. "There's a little surprise I thought would help." He says.

I blink and wonder what he is talking about.

"Just wait until after the surprise." He says as he keeps driving.

I sit back and let him drive. I'm not fully sure when I passed out but I find myself reliving my memories with Near with Near standing out from the rest.

Then Matt is waking me up.

"Huh?" I look to him.

"We are here." Matt says.

I blink and sit up glancing outside.

"Come on." Matt gets out of the car and I follow. He grabs my hand and brings me over through the place he took us to.

"Matt." I say in an almost mumble.

He stays silent until we get to the spot.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter five:

The spot….. is Near's grave.

I glance to him as he lets go of my hand with a smile.

"I thought you might have wanted to visit your childhood friend." Matt says.

I smile and I look back to Near's grave. "It's been awhile." I say.

Matt takes my hand again making me look to him. He just puts a rose and a poppy flower with their stems twined together.

I give a sad smile as he lets go of my hand letting me take the flowers. I again turn back to Near's gave.

"It's nice to say hi to you again Nate." Matt says turning to Near's grave. "But I have a feeling Mihael would like sometime with you. Thank you for what you have done though." He says then he moves away letting me have sometime alone with Near's grave.

I give an appreciative smile to Mail then I turn back to Near's grave. "Nate… I'm sorry I pushed away my memories of us as children for so long." I begin. "And I am grateful to have known you." I glance to the flowers then I crouch down on one knee. "You know. I never knew it at the time but… I had fallen for you Nate. I now know I will never love someone as much as I loved you." I bring the flowers close to my heart. "You will always be near to my heart." I say then I bring the flowers up and I give a kiss to the poppy flower in hopes that it will be sent to Nate then I gently put them in front of Near's gravestone. I stay there for a little bit letting my memories of Nate go through me. "Thank you for everything." I say. "Rest in peace. Near….. Nate… My love…" I stand and I look to the gravestone.

For a few moments I swear I see Nate's ghost sitting there on the gravestone then he seems to vanish.

I let my tears, that I hadn't noticed when they started in the first place, run down my cheeks. "You're my hero Nate." I give the honorary salute meant for heroes which Nate is.

Then I swear I see him smiling happily at me only to bend down picking up what seems to be the spirit of the flowers as he has them but the ones in the real world are still there.

He gives the poppy a kiss right where I kissed it, in the center of the flower, then he turns to me only to give me the salute back before disappearing.

I smile. "I will always remember you. Nate." I say. I then move my uniform sleeve to look the black bracelet with a single dark brown cross charm that is the size of a slightly small wooden necklace charm but it isn't wood. "You remember this?" I bring my wrist up to show what I mean. "This bracelet you gave to me when we were kids before the fire that took away our home town." I say looking fondly at it as it not only highly important to me but it has a wonderful memory attached to it. "It was a sign of our friendship." I bring my hand close to my heart so the bracelet is close to my heart. "But now I see it as a sign of our love and I will continue to cherish it and the memories I have of you." I tell him as I give a sad but loving smile. "And I will always love you. I promise I'll visit every chance I get." I lower my hand from the salute. "I owe you my life. Thank you for everything you gave and every wish you never knew came true." I let myself sniffle. "Goodbye." I say in a broken sad voice. I then begin heading back towards the car with a glance back as he pauses before continuing.

No one's P.O.V.

Mello didn't notice but Near's spirit appears sitting on his gravestone holding the spirit of the flowers keeping their stems twined together.

He gives Mello a happy loving smile. "Thank you. My love." He says even though the living can't hear him. "Even if you don't see me I'm here with you."

The end.

AN:

Give thanks to those who fought in the war and continue to fight for us!

And remember and honor all the lives that were lost in wars.

Mello.


End file.
